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Assisted living development at Mount Anville faces local opposition

Property firm Tetrarch is looking to build 100 apartments and 14 houses at south Dublin site owned by Sacred Heart nuns

A rendering of Tetrarch's housing plan for Mount Anville land

Gordon Deegan
Tue Jan 2 2024 - 16:29

Plans by property investment group Tetrarch to build 114 residential units for so-called assisted living for people aged 65 and over on land owned by the Society of Sacred Heart order of nuns beside Mount Anville girls schools in south Dublin are facing local opposition.

Tetrarch lodged its Large-Scale Residential Development (LRD) plans with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in November, It wants to build 100 apartments across seven blocks and 14 houses on a 2.9-acre site known as the “old farm”, on the grounds of Mount Anville in south Dublin.

Two of the blocks will rise to five storeys and the scheme is to include facilities such as gym/wellness centre, barista bar, small cinema, library, meeting rooms, communal dining area, and a range of optional activities and social opportunities.

In a submission lodged with the application, planning consultants, Manahan Planners state that is the design team’s vision “to provide a leading example of suitable, adaptable living and delivering a specialised tenure option that supports localised ‘downsizing’ or ‘right sizing’, whilst retaining and celebrating the site’s local context and providing a respectful and elegant infill development”

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Manahan Planners state that the applicants’ legal advice is that Part V Social Housing provision requirements don’t apply to assisted living proposals but Tetrarch Residential are willing to volunteer an agreed level of supply of social and affordable housing within the proposal and are continuing to liaise with the relevant bodies in seeking to ensure that this is provided.

However, the submission reveals that this is after discussions with the housing department at the council where “the Council made clear that they would not be in a position to afford the level of internal fit out which is proposed in this development”.

In one submission, 49 residents of the Old Lower Kilmacud Road state that they while they support of “mixed tenure age-friendly housing” they are objecting to the proposal in its current form.

The residents state that the scheme represents a premature development of the Mount Anville estate arguing that “the development of any part of the Estate, including the Old Farm, should not be permitted in the absence of plan” for the lands.

In their submission, Adrian and Aisling Eccles state that they object strongly to the application as it currently stands though in principle support the nature of the scheme.

Highlighting road safety concerns, the Eccles state that the planned scheme will add to an already dangerous situation unless action is taken to address the issue.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times

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